When I woke up today my body was still aching. I could not figure out why? Was it the bed or the massage I had last night, considering that it was supposed to help me rather than to give me body ache’s. Nothing that a hot shower could not fix, I jumped in and came out refreshed and ready for Wei to pick me up. He was a bit delayed as his daughter had been running a fever and he had to go to the hospital to get her checked out. Thankfully it was nothing too serious, just had a mild infection.
When Wei arrived we took a taxi to go towards The Bund for exploring that area and ride in on the river to that I could get a good view of both sides. Man it was bloody hot today, I mean it must be close to around 90 F with close to 110 % humidity. You could literally see the humidity in the air as shown in the pictures in my slide show. It was great to be with Wei, as having spent quite a bit of time in US and grown up in Shanghai he was the best person to be around to get a view of the city and culture. Anyway we decided to skip the walk on the Bund and jumped on the boat for a cruise which took us all the way down to the port area and got great view of the high rises along the way in Pudong. It also was a great way to be able to see the new and old at the same time, a city which has been constantly changing for the last 10 years, and with Expo coming to city there is more development planned. As matter of fact they are relocating the entire port area to a new place outside the city.
After the boat ride we walked the BUND and along the way where appropriate took pictures where ever there was a photo opportunity. Our stroll took us through people square and French Concession area. While in there we came across another watch seller. This time around I had come prepared from home with a picture of a Bentley Bretling watch. Wei told me just wait till you show the picture, they all will say they have the watch even before the actually fully see the picture. Guess what? He was spot on!! I mean this guy must have looked at the picture for less then 5 sec and he said he has many like those and asked to follow him to the supplier’s shop which was couple of yards away. Walking through really dodgy allies, we ended up at a door at which there was knock in signal and we were let in. It was amazing to see the inside of the shop with rows of watches and purses laid against the wall nicely and cool air blowing from the AC. Not what you would expect when you see the outside. Turns out they had loads of fake Bretling watches but not the one that I wanted. Well our hunt did not stop there, the guy who had brought us from the street insisted that there were other shops around where we could get the watch and walked us to two other places, before I finally said to him look at the picture closely and go see if you have this watch if not we are leaving. He took my piece of paper and returned back after 5 min, having been to 4-5 other places by himself to tell me, we don’t have it.
Having not secured my fake Bretling, we walked towards the planning museum, a must place to visit when in Shanghai. This place is a piece of art as it has the whole city of Shanghai in a miniature model with the utmost detail that one can imagine. It also shows the future expansion of the city and the proposed new airport. Once we were done there, it was almost time to head back to Dave’s Tailor to go for my first fitting for my custom suit. Having reached there a bit earlier then what they were expecting us, Wei and I chatted a bit about the history of china and why the people in China accept communism vs. democracy. I can’t get in details about it as I could write a whole entry on it, so I am going to skip our chat :-). Turn’s out that my first fitting was not exactly as it was supposed to be and there were too many adjustments they had to make, so they requested me to come back again for a second fitting in the evening. I was getting a bit concerned on how could they have been so off and was doubting that they could do a good job, but I was given assurances, that all will be well when I come back in the evening.
From there we walked to Xiang Yang market for a last ditch effort to see if I could find my fake Bretling. Our efforts there again did not yield me any results, though I was able to pick up some much needed ankle sports socks. By now both Wei were really getting hungry as we both had skipped lunch and it was almost also time to go for a second fitting for my suit, which went very well and I walked out of the place satisfied. The place Johan had chosen for dinner was Ugihur restaurant (Shinjin place). The food there was just out of the world and we had great music and company. Got to see the traditional dance & enjoy the food, what else could I ask for now? Having heard me complain about my massage from last night, Ying had arranged another massage for me, Johan and herself at Dragon Fly. This time it was the head and foot massage, where two people work on you at the same time. Oh man let me tell you it was amazing, I fell asleep during the massage and Ying tells me that I was snoring away…it was that good…though at one point I did feel as if my feet were on fire (I was told later, they were wrapped in hot towel). I had a full day and by the time I got home I crashed immediately, as I needed to get up early to catch a flight to Hong Kong. The time spent in Shanghai had flown by so quickly that I already am thinking of coming back here again. No wonder Shak misses it so much :-)
No comments:
Post a Comment